Biography
Yung Chang, author of ‘Wild Swans’ and ‘Mao’ writes:
‘Qu Lei Lei was born a year before me in 1951. We came from the same kind of families, and went through a similar path in our lives. He grew up in Peking and, at the age of 15, witnessed the unfolding of Mao’s violent Cultural Revolution, when his parents became victims. He voiced his disgust against the evils of Mme Mao herself and, as a result, he was detained and severely beaten up. Exiled the following year to the depth of the Manchurian mountains, he worked as a peasant and a barefoot doctor, before being enrolled into the army in 1969. There his irrepressible urge to challenge the Cultural Revolution led to two years of investigation when he was closely watched, and had to live in constant fear of great disasters. In 1973, when there was relative relaxation in China, he was able to leave the army and return to Peking. He became a technician in Peking Television.
Painting has been Lei Lei’s passion in life since the age of six. But for many years he was unable to pick up brush and pen. It was too dangerous, he was too exhausted and all one was allowed to paint in those days was Mao’s face, or posters lauding the Cultural Revolution. In the end, unable to suppress his yearning to create pictures of beauty, he began, whilst in the army, to sneak into the fields to draw landscapes: he would clandestinely sketch on whatever bits of scrap paper he could find, mostly on the margins of propaganda newspapers.
Finally, in 1976 Mao died and the Cultural Revolution ended. Lei Lei was exhilarated at the infinite possibilities for his art. He had had an eventful and brave live, and that experience became his source of inspiration. His creativity bust into bloom.
In 1978 when I left China for Britain, Lei Lei stayed on. In the following years, as China was struggling to free itself from the tyranny of its past, Lei Lei became increasingly frustrated by the endless attempts to imprison his free spirit. He was swept between feelings of joy and anger, hope and dismay, growing fear for the future of his art and determination that no obstacle could ever prevent him from painting at the bidding of his mind and heart again…..’
Lei Lei’s ability to marry Chinese traditional painting techniques with Western artistic traditions is considered unique. His talent is recognised world wide. In the Spring of 2008 Littlejohn and Hennessey gave him a one man show in New York, which was followed by another solo show in Hong Kong over the summer. His work is avidly collected and continues to escalate in value. In March 2009 Littlejohn and Hennessey will again be showing his work at the Maastricht Fine Art Fair.
Michael Sullivan of Oxford University says of Lei Lei, ‘As a painter and draftsman there is nothing he cannot do. He is marked out by sheet talent….He is in mid-career, and the future possibilities for the development and maturing of his talents is limitless.’
Born in China 1951
Main Exhibitions
2008 Brush Ink Light Shadow Littlejohn and Hennessy Asian Art, New York
2007 Brush Ink Light Shadow One Man Show, Leda Fletcher Gallery, Shanghai
2007 Contemporary Chinese Painting, L and H Gallery, New York
2006 One Man Show, Campbell Gallery, London
2005 The 2nd Beijing Biennale, Beijing China
2005 Everyone’s Life is an Epic, One Man Show, The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
2004 Blunden Oriental, ‘Art on Paper’ Royal College of Art, London
2003 Joint Exhibition with Caroline Deane, The Aldeburgh Gallery, Suffolk
2002 One-man Exhibition, Galerie Leda Fletcher, Geneva
2001 One-man Exhibition, The Paragon Gallery, Singapore
2001 49th Biennale di Venezia, Venice Italy
2000 One-man Exhibition Galerie Leda Fletcher, Geneva
2000 Art Towards Reconciliation Gernika Museum, Spain
2000 The ‘Stars’ 20th Anniversary, Tokyo, Japan
1999 Here and Now – to Face a New Century, One-man Exhibition, London
1999 48th Biennale di Venezia, Italy
1999 Nude, One-man Exhibition, The Redfern Gallery, London
1998 Chinese Contemporary Art, Montbron, France
1998 5000+1, Bilbao, Spain
1997 One-man Exhibition, Chinese Contemporary Gallery, London
1997 Far From Shore, Pitshanger Manor and Gallery, London
1996 Contemporary Chinese Art Galleri Asur, Oslo, Norway
1996 Fine Chinese Works of Art Christie’s Paris
1995 Joint Exhibition, The Blue Gallery, London
1993 East Going West, One-man Exhibition, Tricycle Gallery, London
1992 Linear Rhythm, One-man Calligraphy Exhibition, The Central Gallery,
Covent Garden, London
1991 One-man Exhibition, Barclays Business Centre, London
1989 Never Forget Pompidou Centre, Paris
1989 The ‘Stars’ 10th Anniversary, Hanart Gallery, Hong Kong and Tai Pei
1988 Artists and Places, Barclays Business Centre, London
1987 Contemporary Chinese Art, Royal Festival Hall, London
1986 East Meets West, Joint Exhibition, Holland Gallery, London
1985 National Ceramics Exhibition, Beijing, China
1980 The ‘Stars’ Exhibition 2, Beijing, China
1979 The ‘Stars’ Exhibition 1, Beijing, China
